Say What Comes Naturally
by PaleBloodInk
Summary: Yang finally gets an opportunity to talk to her mother. She's been looking forward to this moment for years, but she can't think of what to say. When she finally gets to sit with her mother and talk, she can only speak what comes to her in that moment.


_Tai and Yang,_

 _Raven's coming over for a talk_. _I don't know if this is the best or worst thing I've ever done, but I managed to talk her into meeting up with you two. She'll be there a week after you get this. Say what you need to say, 'cause I don't know if you're gonna get another shot at this. Best of luck._

 _-Qrow_

Yang kept mentally reciting the message as she nervously paced back and forth across the kitchen floor, her dad watching her all the while. She couldn't believe it. It was really happening.

Raven was coming home.

Yang's heart was beating a mile a minute, her left palm was sweating, and the fingers of her bionic arm kept fidgeting with the letter Qrow had sent them. Alongside the letter, her mind was trying to come up with what she was going to say when Raven finally got there. She'd dreamed of this moment for years, yet she could never think of anything beyond the rather obvious "Why did you leave?"

She was pulled from her thoughts when her dad spoke up. "Yang, are you sure you wanna go through with this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Yang responded.

There was a momentary pause before he spoke again. "Are you _absolutely_ sure?" he asked in a concerned tone.

Yang let out an irritated sigh. "Yes, Dad, I'm _absolutely_ sure," Yang said, holding up the wrinkled letter from Qrow. "You read the same letter as me. I might never get another chance to talk to her again. I've gotta do this."

"I know," he said. "I won't stop you. Heck, I can't stop you. All I can do is give you a fair warning. After all, you might wanna talk to her, but you might not like what she's got to say."

Yang's shoulders slumped slightly, and the irritation vanished from her face. "I know," she said, "and I appreciate it. But, like I said, I've gotta do this."

Her dad opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Yang could make out a mass of feathery black hair through the window. Her dad walked over to the door, and took a deep breath before opening it, revealing Raven standing there, her Grimm mask tucked under her left arm. "Hey, Raven," he said. She could practically hear him forcing a smile. "How's it going?"

"Don't even try, Tai," Raven said. "I don't wanna do this, and neither do you. Let's just get this over with."

Yang visibly flinched at the blunt response. Her dad let Raven in, closing the door behind her. Raven took a seat at the table, put down her mask, and looked at the two blondes.

"Well, do you both wanna go at once, or are we doing this one at a time?" Raven asked.

"Dad, do you mind going first?" Yang asked, nervously.

"Er, sure, kiddo."

Yang left the kitchen for the porch as her dad sat down opposite from Raven. Immediately after the door closed, Yang let out a shaky breath as she leaned against the side of the house. She ran a hand through her. She'd been thinking about meeting her for over a decade, but she had no idea what to say. She felt like a coward asking her dad to talk to her first just so that she could have a few more minutes to think.

She stayed on the porch, thinking, for about twenty minute before her dad opened the door and walked out.

"How'd it go?" Yang asked.

"About as well as you'd expect," he answered with a sigh.

He looked towards her and said, "Last chance to back out."

"I'm not."

"Okay. Your turn then," he said, gesturing to the door.

Just as she was about to go back inside, she felt him give her shoulder a squeeze, and heard him say, "Good luck."

Yang entered the kitchen and saw Raven still sitting, hands folded on the table in front of her.

Yang took the seat opposite her mother, forcing herself to look Raven straight in the eye. She could practically feel her skin crawling as she looked into her birthmother's crimson orbs. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. For almost a full minute, she tried to say something, but every time she tried, she'd look into Raven's eyes, and the words would die in her throat. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to gather her thoughts. She was about to try speaking again, but Raven spoke first.

"It just wasn't the life for me."

Yang's eyes shot open. "What?" she asked.

"The answer to your question. 'Why did I leave?' Don't pretend you weren't going to ask."

Raven leaned back in her chair. "The life of a huntress inside the kingdoms just wasn't for me. I gave it a fair shot. I graduated from Beacon, took on jobs as they came, and even married your father. But I just never felt right living in this house. When I found out that I was pregnant with you, well, that was the last straw. I decided that I didn't want this life for myself. After you were born, I left."

Yang didn't respond. Her gaze drifted down to her lap as she tried to think of something to respond with, but she just couldn't. The woman who gave birth to her had just said that she was one of the reasons she left. She wanted to get angry, to scream at her until her throat was hoarse, but she couldn't. She couldn't even bring herself to cry. She just felt empty.

"So, anything else you wanna know?" Raven asked.

Silence.

"Well then, I guess I'll be leaving," Raven said, beginning to stand up.

"Wait!" Yang yelled, reaching out with her left hand.

Her mother looked at her for a moment before sitting down. Yang awkwardly lowered her outstretched hand.

"Well?" Raven asked.

Yang shakily let out a breath. "I've been wondering where you were for most of my life, and now that you're here there's something I need to say to you."

She wracked her brain, trying to find something, anything, to say to her. But every time she tried to think up something confrontational, her mind would go blank. She decided she'd have to go with her gut on this one.

Yang took one last calming breath and let the words slip from her mouth without even thinking about them. "Thank you."

Silence once more permeated the air.

"What?" Raven asked.

Raven may have looked like it hadn't affected her, but Yang could see past that. She noticed how Raven's eyes had widened in surprise for a split-second.

She wondered where the words had come from, but she was pleased she'd found something to say. She once more let the words come without thinking about them.

"Thank you," she repeated. "I don't know what to say other than that. I mean, in a way, you've done a lot for me. After you left, Dad married Summer, and she was a fantastic mom. Every time I got sick, she wouldn't leave my side until I started feeling better. Every time I was feeling down, she'd be right there to cheer me up with a treat or a story. And every time she tucked in for bed, she'd tell me how much she loved me."

By this point, a smile started to creep onto her face.

"And she was an amazing wife too. I honestly don't think I've ever seen Dad as happy as when he was with her. I mean, yeah, it hit him hard when she died, but I think he's happy just to have had those few years with her."

The smile grew even further.

"And best of all, she gave me Ruby. If you never left, Ruby wouldn't exist. You leaving led to me having the best little sister anyone could ever have. So, I guess I can't say anything other than thank you."

Yang looked up at Raven. Initially, she seemed completely unfazed by what Yang had just said.

But Yang saw past that.

She saw the slight slant of her eyebrows, and how her fingernails were starting to dig dents into the table as she its edge.

"Is that all you have to say?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm good," Yang replied, a smile still plastered on her face.

Raven stood up from the table, grabbed her Grimm mask, and made her way to the door. Just as she was about to reach for the doorknob, she turned back to Yang. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Yang said, simply.

Without another word, Raven opened the door to reveal Taiyang standing there. She didn't pay him any heed however. She simply shuffled past him, and walked away.

"So, you were listening to all that, huh?" Yang asked.

Her dad closed the door behind him as he took the free seat at the table. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Yeah, I couldn't resist. Uh, did you really mean what you said to her?"

Yang barely thought about it before responding. "I think so. I wasn't really thinking about it while I was saying it. It just sorta happened."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

"Maybe later… Do you need to talk about your conversation with her?"

"No. That stuff's a bit too personal. I'd rather you didn't know what we talked about."

Yang leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table.

"Hey, Dad. Thanks for everything," she said.

"Er, you're welcome," her dad said. "What brought this on?"

Yang shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just in a thankful mood today."

Taiyang gave her a small smile. "Well, I guess I should be thankful too. Things worked out as well as they did. I'm gonna head to bed. Night, Yang. Love you."

"Love you too, Dad."

Her dad stood up from the table and began to head towards the living room. "And get your feet off the table! Summer and I raised you better than that!" she heard him yell half-jokingly.

"Yeah, you and Mom raised me better than that," she said, the smile still on her face.


End file.
